‘Everything is full’: L.A. shelters turn away animals, residents complain
Los Angeles’ city animal shelters have been under fire for months, with volunteers and rescue groups complaining that animals are being neglected and department officials admitting that they don’t have enough staff to run the six shelters.
The criticism heated up again last week, when members of the commission that oversees Animal Services pressed department officials to answer complaints about shelter staff turning away people seeking to surrender animals.
At a hearing Tuesday of the Board of Animal Services Commissioners, panel members asked the department to report back on city policy for taking in animals.
“We continue to get emails from the public telling us about animals that are being rejected,” said Commissioner Jose Sandoval.
The concerns follow the ongoing struggles at the department, which saw a double-digit rise in the number of cats and dogs housed in Animal Services shelters through October compared with the same period last year.
Callers to the Animal Services commission meetings regularly complain about animals not being accepted. At Tuesday’s meeting, commission President Larry Gross said that he and other members “are really concerned about people being turned away.”
If stories of overcrowding and inadequate care at L.A. city animal shelters have you wondering how to help, here’s how to volunteer and donate.
During Tuesday’s meeting, speakers shared stories of shelter workers declining to take in kittens and cats.
Michelle Cornelius, who works as a volunteer at the West Valley shelter, said someone called the shelter after finding a kitten and wanting to surrender it to the shelter but was told that unless it was injured to release it into the street.
“It is quite clear that giving staff any discretion as to which animals to take in does not work,” Cornelius told the commissioners. “The department needs to return to accepting all animals that will come to the door.”
Fabienne Origer, manager for AGWC Rockin’ Rescue in Woodland Hills, said her group has become a de facto shelter when animals have been turned away from the city.
On Tuesday, someone called the city’s West Valley shelter about dropping off a pregnant cat they found four weeks ago but could no longer care for, and was told by a shelter employee to abandon the cat, Origer said.
The person first contacted the rescue group, but it was at capacity, with more than 100 animals under its care, Origer said.
The shelter told the person to return the cat to where they found it, Origer said. Upon hearing the person planned to release the cat near Lake Balboa, Origer said she begged the person to bring the pregnant feline to the rescue.
“Even though we are at capacity, [I had her] just bring her to us,” Origer said. The alternative was leaving a pregnant, unfixed stray who would give birth to more stray kittens, Origer added.
In August, Origer ran into two people at the South Los Angeles Chesterfield Square animal shelter who were trying to drop off two cats they found in a cardboard box on the side of the road.
Origer recorded the interaction between the people and shelter employees and posted it on Instagram.
“They said, ‘Oh, you need an appointment to drop them off or just leave them in the street,’” one person is heard saying.
Lisa Lange, vice president of communications for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said she has received several reports of people attempting to drop off cats and dogs at city shelters, only to be told that the animals belong on the streets.
Justin Khosrowabadi, a spokesman for Animal Services, said the shelters generally don’t take in feral cats.
“Community cats, also called feral cats, are generally not socialized nor are they friendly to people. They live full, healthy lives with their feline families in their outdoor homes,” Khosrowabadi said.
The Animal Services’ website says that the “six open-intake municipal animal shelters throughout Los Angeles means no animals are turned away when brought into our shelters.”
In a follow-up interview, Gross, the commission president, said Animal Services is waiting on signs and leaflets that will ensure volunteers, staff and the public are aware of the open-intake policy. Gross said the shelter should be accepting surrenders even when people do not have an appointment, such as the situation of cats found on the side of the road in a cardboard box.
Some claims about staff turning away animals may not be true or omit details, Gross said. Staff members will try to figure out why an animal is being surrendered and convince the person to keep the animal for as long as possible, he said.
L.A.’s animal services agency is understaffed and relies on volunteers. At one overcrowded shelter, dogs sit in kennels for weeks or months without being walked.
But he acknowledged that sometimes there is miscommunication in which staff or volunteers deny taking in an animal.
“They try to minimize intake, but the bottom line is, if there is no alternative, we have an obligation to take those pets and animals in,” Gross said.
Commissioner Olivia E. Garcia, speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, urged interim general manager Annette Ramirez to remind department staff that they needed to accept animals.
“It needs to be done uniformly so that these things do not happen,” Garcia said during the meeting. “We keep getting reports time and time again and it’s disturbing.”
One Animal Services worker last week told The Times that in the years that he’s been in the city, he has never seen conditions so crowded at the shelters. In some cases, three dogs are housed in one kennel, said the worker, which makes it harder to clean up after the animals.
“Everything is full,” said a worker at another shelter.
The department has waived adoption fees in the hopes of getting animals out the door.
“We are urgently asking the community to foster or adopt a pet to ensure there is life-saving space for animals who will find their way into our shelters this holiday season with nowhere else to go,” department spokesperson Agnes Sibal said.
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